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A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

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Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#11

This seems like yet another a hilariously disastrous misstep on the part of the Democrats, dark money and restricted speech and red tape. Have they considered just, you know, talking to people on the internet? The way normal humans do? The way Trump has done with such wildly incredible success?

To suggest the right wing media ecosystem is "just talking to people on the Internet" is hilariously divorced from reality.

https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential...

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#14
> Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy about disclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creators could produce.

I think I heard about there being disclosure rules for people taking money to promote commercial things. Maybe that needs to apply to politics as well?

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#15

This seems like yet another a hilariously disastrous misstep on the part of the Democrats, dark money and restricted speech and red tape. Have they considered just, you know, talking to people on the internet? The way normal humans do? The way Trump has done with such wildly incredible success?

To put this as politely as possible, none of the normal (adult) humans I know talk like Trump.

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#16

This seems like yet another a hilariously disastrous misstep on the part of the Democrats, dark money and restricted speech and red tape. Have they considered just, you know, talking to people on the internet? The way normal humans do? The way Trump has done with such wildly incredible success?

The problem is, they don't like normal people. They don't trust them or think their opinions have value, and they've made that clear over the last several years. It took a while, but the normal people have finally started to get it.

It wasn't always that way. Democrats like Bill Clinton used to be able to go out and talk to normal people and make them feel like he liked them and sympathized with them. I remember when Clinton came to my town after the 1993 Mississippi flood, and even Republicans who met him were impressed and felt like he really cared. It may have been fake (as it certainly is with most Republicans), but he could pull it off. They can't anymore; the contempt is too strong. There's not a single prominent Democrat whom normal people look at and feel like he or she cares about them.

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#17

> Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy about disclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creators could produce. I think I heard about there being disclosure rules for people taking money to promote commercial things. Maybe that needs to apply to politics as well?

It absolutely does need to happen, and never will. Subtle but effective oversight will not become a popular voting issue, and the majority of those in power will never ask to limit their own power (nor wealth).

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#18

This seems like yet another a hilariously disastrous misstep on the part of the Democrats, dark money and restricted speech and red tape. Have they considered just, you know, talking to people on the internet? The way normal humans do? The way Trump has done with such wildly incredible success?

To suggest the right wing media ecosystem is "just talking to people on the Internet" is hilariously divorced from reality. https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential...

That just seems like an influence campaign. I expect every country to try to meddle in each other's politics, for their own gain.

Also Tim Pool? Rubin? Those are small fries. Putin couldn't afford Joe Rogan or Ben Shapiro?

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#19

Considering the shrill “DONATE NOW TO STOP TRUMP!!” emails were actually used to pay off campaign debt (after spending $1.5 billion!) I don’t think the Democrat base is primed for more shenanigans https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/us/politics/kamala-harris...

I worry more that they're not primed to win. The party has no standout stars; Gov. Newsom is the closest we have, and half of his promotion comes from Trump attacking him.

We have the most incompetent POTUS in history in office right now; he's so stupid he makes GW Bush look like a Rhodes Scholar. And yet, with all that surface area, and Trump at all-time low popularity... nothing exciting is heard from the Dems.

Re: A dark money group is funding high-profile Democratic influencers

#20

This seems like yet another a hilariously disastrous misstep on the part of the Democrats, dark money and restricted speech and red tape. Have they considered just, you know, talking to people on the internet? The way normal humans do? The way Trump has done with such wildly incredible success?

I do talk to you people like a normal human - I constantly belittle and insult you!
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